


Waltz for the Moon

by FrostclawDragoon



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Fem!WoL x Exarch, Fluff, Inspired by FF8 dance cutscene and prompt event on tumblr, Miqo'te WoL, Post!Shadowbringers, Romance, WoL/Exarch, extreme fluffy romance ahead, spoilers abound!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 19:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20765453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostclawDragoon/pseuds/FrostclawDragoon
Summary: With the night returned to Norvrandt and it's people saved from the dreaded Sin Eaters, the denizens of the First have gathered in celebration at the Crystarium. The Crystal Exarch had no intention of joining the dance-related festivities, but when the Warrior of Darkness herself invites him to waltz, how could he say no?





	Waltz for the Moon

**Author Notes:**

Wrote this for the [FFXIVWrite2019 event on tumblr](https://sea-wolf-coast-to-coast.tumblr.com/post/187546672817/ffxivwrite2019) on an extra credit day because I really wanted to write a super indulgent Exarch and WoL fic inspired by the FF8 dance cutscene. Because I am weak for sappy romantic scenes. qwq

Reuploaded from my tumblr account with small edits since it's not under a time constraint this time! Nameless Fem!Wol Miqo'te because I couldn't come up with a name.

* * *

The Crystarium was up in celebration. The night had been fully restored to all of Norvrandt, the Sin Eaters were no more – at the very least, their numbers dwindled beyond immediate repair – and, above all else, the Warrior of Light had survived the endeavor. Miraculously and surprisingly, _ so did he_. G’raha had fully prepared and expected to perish after the defeat of the final Lightwarden; instead, he stood alive and well at the base of the Crystal Tower, a happy and contented smile ever present on his face as he watched all the invited denizens of the First celebrate with long deserved joy and excitement.

Tables of food that had been labored over the past several days in preparation for this night outlined the center court of the Crystarium. Idle chatter, laughter and music filled the air; people were talking, cheering, drinking and dancing the night away without fear or dread for the first time in a hundred years. Even some of the fae folk - who the Warrior of Light insisted they be allowed to join, lest she suffer under the the Fae King's wrath for the umpteenth time - had joined in on the celebration with the promise from Feo Ul that they would behave… For the most part, anyway. He was certain some harmless, playful pranks had been pulled, but so far nothing that warranted his immediate attention and Urianger’s scoldings.

It was a joyous sight to behold to be sure, one that made his heart swell in delight. To know that the sacrifices that had been made up until this point hadn’t been in vain, and that generations to come would enjoy the permanent presence of the moon and stars. That the future of Norvrandt was secure and safe, and the monsters that had haunted their every waking moment would become nothing more than simple stories of warning and spooky campfire stories.

As his eyes traveled about the courtyard to watch all the smiling faces, his gaze inevitably settled upon_ her_. The Warrior of Light--or Darkness, depending on where one hailed from. She had returned to the First by his invitation and was welcomed as the Guest of Honor among the crowd. Currently she stood with the Eulmorian couple, the Chais if he remembered right. She listened so intently as Dulia chattered away animatedly at her, a small smile gracing her normally stoic face. It brought a sense of relief to him to see that she appeared so relaxed, and he could only hope she felt the way she looked.

Nothing would bring him more joy than knowing the Warrior of Light was truly at ease both in body and mind. She more than deserved a holiday, however brief.

G’raha’s smile joyful smile gradually softened to a look of pure adoration as he watched her, his crimson eyes glistening in the dim light. She was out of her armor and in clothing far more comfortable and suitable for the evening, with a sleeveless top that showed off the scars on her bare arms. Her long hair, that she could never do anything with according to her, had somehow been tamed long enough to be tied in a messy braid that hung over her shoulder, and he noted a few flowers had been weaved in. The lanterns and the light of the full moon were practically accessories to her outfit, illuminating her with a beautiful, golden-white ethereal glow. His heart fluttered wildly to such a sight. She had always been beautiful to him, but for this one moment, it seemed like everything aligned perfectly to compliment every feature she had.

Unfortunately for him, what he_ hadn’t _ realized was how long he had been staring at her. Not until she had looked back at him, her smile fading slightly and her miqo’te ears perking up in surprise. He tensed up as they made eye contact from across the courtyard, his breath hitching in his throat. _ Oops. _ He averted his gaze quickly, suddenly overwhelmed by the flustering thought that she had caught him unintentionally staring with a love-drunk expression on his face.

Although he refused to look back, he could see out of the corner of his eye that she made motions at the Chais, like a slight wave goodbye, before making a straight stride toward his direction. His lips pressed hard together as his heart began racing faster and faster with each step she took toward him. Surely she had intended to go anywhere else? Perhaps Thancred or Y’shtola were idling around behind him, and that he had mistaken her glance in his direction as her noticing his awkward gawking from afar? Maybe she wasn’t actually walking over to question why he was staring at her – thus leading to a horribly embarrassing conversation about how beautiful he thought she was – and was instead headed to spend time with her friends? Yes. That must have been the case–

“G’raha!” She said, suddenly, sending a spike up anxiety up his back at the use of his real name. “Good evening!”

In the blink of an eye, she was right there in front of him. He stepped back in surprise, resulting in her grinning wide with a playfulness that both made him nervous and sent his heart spiraling into a fit of joy. He had always found her smile to be very adorable.

“Ah–! Ahem.” He cleared his throat and straightened up. He knew he could handle talking to her, he had done so many times in the past. He just had to remain calm and _not_ think about how pretty she was. “Good evening. I hope all is going well for you tonight?”

She nodded as she folded her hands behind her. “The party is lovely." Her ears wiggled happily. "Thank you again for inviting me.”

“Of course.” He responded with a small smile and a slight dip of his head. “We couldn’t celebrate the return of night to all of the First without the very person who made it all possible.”

Her beaming expression seemed to falter at that, and that made him worry. “… So you just invited me as a guest of honor, then? No other reason?”

“P-pardon?” He asked hesitantly.

Her lips puckered as she puffed her cheeks in what looked like disappointment. G’raha blinked once, confusion and worry quickly bubbling up inside him.

“Was there supposed to be another reason?”

“No.” She murmured between her lips as she looked around the room idly. “I suppose not…”

_ What was that? _He thought. _ She sounded so disappointed. _

Before he had a chance to ask what was bothering her, the music provided by a small gathering of performers had changed, catching the attention of both G’raha and the Warrior. They both watched as the atmosphere in the courtyard shifted with the music, and several people paired up to dance together. _A waltz?_ He thought idly. Instantly after, the idea of dancing with the Warrior popped into his mind's eye:_ Holding her close, hands and fingers tangled together, her head on his shoulder as they gently rocked side to side._ His face went red, prompting him to shake his briskly to rid himself of the thought and blush. He couldn't dance, and the Warrior would certainly not want to dance with him, not when she had literally anyone else to choose from. After the thought had left him, G'raha noticed the Warrior's attention shift from the dance floor and straight back to him with a ponderous stare and a raised eyebrow, sending another spike of anxiety up his spine. She eyed him up and down, a finger tapping thoughtfully against her cheek as her tail flicked side-to-side. She was coming to a decision, he knew. And her prolonged staring told him that he was heavily involved in that decision.

“… Do you want to dance?” She asked.

For a second, he thought his heart had stopped.

“W–… What? Dance?”

“You know, like them.” She pointed to the multiple pairs of people dancing in the courtyard together.

Scratch that. His heart _ definitely _had stopped. Did the Echo somehow allow her to read his mind and see that stray thought?! His cheeks flushed red again and he quickly waved his hands back and forth.

“Aaaaa–! No! I don’t know how!” He blurted out.

He was mentally kicking himself for not having taken those lessons Krile tried to force him into all those years ago. _ When will I ever need a skill like that? _ He recalled himself saying. _ Foolish. _ A chance to dance with the Warrior gone in an instant because his younger self’s inability to foresee the future and the unreasonably ridiculous crush he would develop.

“That’s okay.” She said as she reached over, taking him by his crystallized hand and smiling wide with confidence and reassurance. He froze up from her touch. “I can help you!”

_ Wait. WHAT?! _

He stumbled after her as she gently tugged him toward the dance floor, the blush on his face deepening. He had half a mind to resist her, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He... He _wanted_ to do this, regardless of how completely embarrassed and anxious he felt. Already he could feel several eyes trailing after them, and he was certain the Scions were among them, ready to pounce on him the second the Warrior looked away. He refused to take his gaze off the Warrior for this reason, as he feared accidentally locking eyes with the protective and motherly Y'shtola.

The Warrior turned around suddenly. G’raha had barely enough time to catch himself before colliding into her. They stumbled a bit, but he straightened up quickly as he collected himself with a clearing of his throat. He had a somewhat of an appearance to keep up for the people of the Crystarium, after all. He noticed the Warrior stifle a laugh, and the blush on his face deepened yet another shade darker. Nothing could get more embarrassing than the Warrior of Light giggling at his clumsiness, right?

_ Wrong. _ Without warning, she had guided his right hand to her waist, causing him to tense up, his ears standing straight up and the fur on his hidden tail bristling. Instinctively he swallowed hard, his face was probably about the same shade of red as his hair at this point. This… This was an innocent dance gesture for sure, but was a level of closeness with her specifically that he was not prepared for. While he was still in the process of mentally trying to catch up with the fact that his hand was on her side, she took his left hand within her own, rested her remaining free hand on his shoulder, and began taking the steps that would lead them into a dance. Unprepared for the sudden movement, his feet automatically shuffled after her, causing him to fumble about awkwardly as she took the lead.

G’raha couldn’t help but continuously look down, trying desperately to figure out where and how to position his feet in comparison to hers. At the same time, he tried very hard to keep eye contact with her, which was practically impossible both because he was overwhelmed by the feeling of their closeness and because he was mostly watching his feet so he didn't step on her very armorless toes. Due to his constant shifting of attention, when she stepped back from him suddenly in the dance, it caught him off guard. He stumbled forward with her and tripped over himself, nearly smacking his head down into her shoulder.

He stepped back from her quickly, his hands releasing her as he did with an apologetic and pointed look that basically said _ “I told you so.” _ She shook her head hopelessly and she stepped right back up to him, repositioning his hands to try again. She wasn’t going to let him escape apparently, and was determined to see this through. He should have known better, she had never been one to quit. She was going to have G’raha dancing like a professional by the end of this whether he wanted it or not.

A few steps in and already his feet were tangled up in themselves. He staggered right, stumbled left. No matter what he did, he just couldn’t move in-sync with the Warrior, who seemed far more skilled at this than anyone would have guessed. She had such refined grace to her steps, so much so that he was starting to feel bad for her. Here she was trying to dance with him, and he was simply falling over himself like an ungraceful fawn slipping on ice, unable to keep up with her pace. She must have felt so embarrassed or tired of his inability to properly waltz–

She suddenly spun him outward, and pulled him back in. He mentally prayed no one heard the small yelp of surprise he released before he smashed into her on the pull-back, his feet unintentionally stomping down onto her toes as he tried to stop himself. He pushed back from her again, his face running hot with furious embarrassment as he watched her look down at her feet with a slight wince of discomfort.

“P-perhaps this was a bad idea?” He said as his ears pressed flat against his head. He backed up further. “My apologies, but we should stop–”

She looked up at him, then walked right back into his personal space again and grabbed his arm firmly, pulling him back toward her with a sweet smile. She seemed to have completely brushed off the pain she was feeling in her toes, probably due to a high pain tolerance with how often she faced near-death situations. Still didn't make him feel any less bad.

“You’re doing so well though!” She said delightfully as she pulled his hands back into position. “Let’s keep practicing! You’ve almost got it!”

That fiery determination to teach him how to waltz was burning ever brightly in her eyes. He couldn’t help but be inspired by her will to keep going at this, despite his shortcomings. He pursed his lips and nodded stiffly, and their dance once more resumed. Or, _her_ dance resumed. Whatever he was doing was hardly qualified as a dance.

_ One, two, three. One, two, three. _ He mentally counted to the music and gradually he could feel his movements getting a little bit smoother, boosting his shaking confidence. He noticed that, the more he kept in time with the music, the more his feet weren’t shuffling, and instead he was actually moving like he was supposed to– _ SMACK. _ As he dipped to the left with her, they both collided with another pair of dancers, who stumbled away in response to the sudden crash. G’raha ducked his head, wanting nothing more than to pull his hood up to hide. The Warrior grinned apologetically to the pair beside them and waved her hand, and the pair - who had been staring more at the fact the Warrior of Darkness and the Exarch were dancing together rather than at the Exarch's poor waltzing skills - resuming their own dance.

“Are you sure about this?” G’raha asked in a whisper as he looked at the Warrior with growing concern. “There are plenty of other people who are probably far better at this than I.”

“It’s fine.” She answered softly. “Let’s try again, okay?” 

“But–!”

Her grip on his hand tightened reassuringly. “I want to dance with you. _ No one else_.”

G’raha’s head jerked back in surprise at her answer, his heart fluttering wildly to the sternness of her expression and the tone she had used. Her mind was made up, and he knew from experience that no matter how hard he pushed her away, she would continue to come back. She was so, _ so _ stubborn… Oh how he loved that about her.

Once more, she positioned their hands, her determination giving way to a soft expression he could not quite place as her eyes locked with his. His heart so foolishly told him it was shy fondness; that she too longed for this closeness, that she wanted for all barriers and professional masks to vanish so that something far more emotionally intimate between them could be uncovered. But logic told him otherwise. There was no way in any lifetime that someone as magnificent and heroic as the Warrior of Light would view him as anything more than just… Well. He was a side character in her story, nothing worth noting or writing about. Standing beside her and her greatness, he was simply noise on the wind.

They began dancing again, with G’raha stumbling and fumbling after her. But she didn’t quit on him, and continuously encouraged him and guided his steps. His earlier embarrassment hadn’t gone away of course, he knew people were still watching him repeatedly fail, but the small bouts of frustration and guilt were certainly fading with each new step he got right. Partially because he was genuinely impressed with his quick progress, but mostly because her face would light up in joy anytime he performed the dance correctly, and he had a front row seat all to himself to witness her bright, beaming smile that he so adored.

Eventually he got it right. All of it. With her guidance and persistence, he was finally able to match her steps and keep up with her, allowing him to finally take the lead in the dance. Though his movements were far less refined, he was able to step, lean and twirl her without ever glancing down to his feet. To which he was thankful, it meant he got to spend more time looking at her, watching her move and giggle with glee with such immense fondness. The way her loose stands of hair bounced around her, the delightful wiggles of her ears and tail, the tiny way her nose would crinkle with each grin. He had become so focused on her, not wanting to miss a second of her emotions, that the other noises of the courtyard around them faded into the background. It was just them and the music now.

He couldn’t ask for anything more than that.

After she performed a small elegant twirl; he carefully pulled her back in toward him and she, purposefully, stepped in even closer to him than she had been before, their heads nearly colliding as she did. When the tip of her nose brushed against his, he froze in place and their dance halted as their eyes locked immediately. Neither of them moved, but when G'raha felt her breath on his face, his eyes went wide and his face flushed pink. Every mental alarm he had was blaring loudly in his head, screaming at him to remember their barriers, their masks of professionalism. He needed to put that small distance between them again, bring that safe wall back up so he wouldn't say or do something that would ruin what they had. He took a breath to speak, to say something; anything that would stop this moment from escalating further than it had. But his words got caught in his throat the moment he saw her eyelids droop and her gaze lower toward his lips.

Her head tilted slightly and he felt her press toward him, her fingers gripping tightly onto his shoulder and hand for stability as she leaned on her toes. His heart began racing, pounding loud in his ears as a warmth pooled in his chest at the sight of her eyelids closing and her cheeks flushing pink in the moonlight. Despite logic and anxiety telling him to run, to back out fast before their friendship was ruined, he didn’t. He instead dipped his head back toward her, accepting her silent invitation. As the gap between their faces steadily closed, his eyes fell shut, and he could feel the gentle softness of her lips pressing to his in a kiss--

_ BOOM! _

G’raha slammed his forehead into her in surprise at the sudden explosion that erupted over head. They stumbled back from one another, startled, as they pressed their now aching heads into the palms of their hands simultaneously.

“Ow–!” She yelped quietly.

“Ah-! Forgive me…!” G’raha murmured loudly as he rubbed his forehead.

_ BOOM! POP! _

At the same time, G’raha and the Warrior looked upward to the recurring explosions, watching as massive blasts of color lit up in the night sky. Fireworks… He forgot there were fireworks tonight. He had asked for those. _Of all the times_... G’raha looked over toward the Warrior as she returned his gaze. They both smiled hopelessly in apology before awkwardly laughing at themselves.

This time, he took the initiative and stepped toward her, his crystallized hand reaching out to hers. His fingers tapped against her hand testingly and respectfully, as he wanted to ensure these actions were still okay with her, and that their near-kiss encounter was not something he made up in his head. She responded by curling and locking her fingers around his slowly. G’raha had never seen the Warrior express anything but bravery - or anger, depending if you were on the wrong side. So when he saw her bashfully duck her head down and her face turning pink with blush the moment their hands pressed together, his chest swelled with a growing love he could barely contain. He gently tugged her toward him, to which she gave no resistance and quite hurriedly stepped up to him again with a delighted laugh, clearly hoping to pick up where they had left off.

“_There _ you are.” Came the familiar voice of Y’shtola as she promptly invited herself into the space, freezing them both in place as their noses touched.

Y’shtola’s arm swung around and locked with the Warrior’s suddenly, and she tugged her away from the stunned and shocked G’raha, their hand slipping apart as she was pulled away from him.

“Thancred has gotten himself hopelessly drunk and is absolutely convinced that you turned into a Lightwarden and are exploding in the sky.” She continued as she led the Warrior away. She gave a hard, pointed glance back at G’raha. She still didn’t trust him. “He needs you to convince him otherwise.”

“Uh–oh. Of course! Lead on!” The Warrior said.

The Warrior glanced back at him with a hopeless smile, her fingers raising to give a small farewell wave as she was dragged off by her understandably protective mother-figure. G’raha returned the tiny wave with his own, his hand slowly lowering the further away she got. He sighed at the small twinge of pain forming in his chest as she disappeared from view.

_ Were it so easy… _

He turned around, ready to make his way toward a chair to sit and rest, only to stop dead in his tracks, his stomach dropping and his blood running cold. Behind him stood Lyna, her arms crossed and a knowing grin on her face, and behind _ her_ stood several other Crystarium denizens who looked far too amused. He knew, by their expressions alone, that they had seen _everything._

“H-h-how long have you all been there?!” He exclaimed in shock.

“Long enough.” Lyna answered. “You weren’t exactly hiding.”

“You’ll get her next time!” One of the figures in the crowd yelled.

“Go for it, Exarch!”

“You have our blessing!”

G’raha’s face went a dark red and a small noise of embarrassment and discomfort escaped him. He quickly pulled his hood over his head as they approached, smothering him in encouragement to try his best next time at wooing the Warrior of Darkness.


End file.
